Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

At a meeting of the G20 in Pittsburgh last Friday, Canadian PM Stephen Harper declared that Canada “was the envy of the world,” going on and on in a rant rich with error and embarrassments:

“Canada remains in a very special place in the world. … We are the one major developed country that no one thinks has any responsibility for this [financial] crisis,” he said to laughter. “In fact, on the contrary, they look at our policies as a solution to the crisis. We’re the one country in the room everybody would like to be.”

Harper then said the other G20 nations “would like to be an advanced developed economy with all the benefits that conveys to its citizens and at the same time not have been the source, or have any of the domestic problems, that created this crisis,” and follow that gem up with: “We’re so self-effacing as Canadians that we sometimes forget the assets we do have that other people see… We are one of the most stable regimes in history… We also have no history of colonialism. So we have all of the things that many people admire about the great powers but none of the things that threaten or bother them.”

First and foremost, Mr. Harper, did you forget that Canada has “no history of colonialism” because we WERE a colony? And as for the rest of your wrongful boasting… Yes, I’m sure China, France, Brazil, India, Germany, the US, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UK, Japan… they ALL want to be just like us, Mr. Harper. I’m sure that’s all they think about. Having such little economic power on the international spectrum that there’s no way they even could have any responsibility for a global economic crisis. And seriously stop with this “we’re so self-effacing” as Canadians bullshit. If anyone’s ever proven that theory wrong, it was you. Just now.

As a dear friend pointed out on his Facebook wall, the fact that this happened four days ago and has failed to be “pilloried in the national media for making us the laughing stock of the international community” is quite telling as to how intellectual ignorant Canadians are (myself included, to a degree) to our own politics and representation to the international community.